


ready or not

by callmeroot



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Jealousy, a lil angsty maybe but also happy idk, a lil bit of injury but low key, can't wait 4 these nerds 2 fall in love, i dont know, i love them so mch help me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-18
Updated: 2016-11-18
Packaged: 2018-08-31 15:22:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8583619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callmeroot/pseuds/callmeroot
Summary: five times they aren't ready and one time that they are





	

**Author's Note:**

> i cried listening to "say you'll be there" by the spice girls earlier because i was thinking about sanvers, and if that doesn't sum up what a giant gay mess i am over them then i don't know what does
> 
> i hope you enjoy this venting of my many many feelings

“Are you gonna make me wait out here all night, Danvers?”

Maggie knocks hard on the door to Alex’s apartment. No answer. 

And again. Nothing.

“I’m not going anywhere until you talk to me,” she calls through the crack between the door and its frame, leaning against the wood. “So you may as well let me sooner than later…”

This time she hears movement. The door jerks open suddenly, and she stumbles forward with it, catching onto Alex’s arm automatically to steady herself.

Alex flinches and steps back, arms folded across her chest, defensive tension obvious in the tight hunch of her shoulders, the twitch in her jaw.

“What do you want, Maggie?” She asks. She sounds tired more than anything. Resigned. It hurts to hear more than the hostility Maggie had expected from her body language.

“To see my friend.” Alex blinks, her mouth parting slightly as if she wants to say something - she presses them together tightly before she does, her dark eyes meeting Maggie’s briefly before darting away, upwards and then to the floor. She shuffles her feet uncomfortably. “I’ve missed you. If you couldn’t gather that from all the messages I’ve been leaving.”

It’s a moment before Alex looks up at her, mouth twisted apologetically and shoulders slumping a little. “I’m sorry. For ki….” She stops, rephrases. “For what I did. And then for avoiding you - I was just so.. So  _ humiliated.  _ I can’t imagine what you think of me-”

“I think you’re kinda great, Alex. And you’ve got nothing to be sorry for.” It’s softer than Maggie intended, and she clears her throat. “Though, if you want to make up for the two weeks of ignoring me, how about you come yourself the next time the DEO and NCPD end up on the same case? I’ve heard we make a pretty good team.”

“I suppose we do.” Maggie smiles as Alex unfolds her arms, ignores the flash of attraction as she watches her run a hand back through her hair nervously, still not entirely at ease. “Let’s just - can we not mention it?”

“The kiss?” Maggie clarifies, and Alex nods, casting her gaze at the ground as her cheeks burn red. “Hey - look at me, Danvers. If you’re not ready to talk about it, we won’t. Okay?”

“Okay.” Alex nods, her lips turning upwards for the first time. “I’ll see you on the next case, then.”

Maggie steps back, recognising the cue to leave. She stops as she leaves, turns back to Alex. “I meant it when I told you I’m here for you. Anything you need.”

Alex nods, and Maggie leaves, feeling lighter than she has in two weeks.

She lifts a hand to her lips - they may not be allowed to talk about the kiss, but that sure as hell doesn’t mean Maggie’s not thinking about it.

 

**x**

 

“Is that a hickey, Danvers?” 

Alex rolls her eyes and grabs a pool cue, but can’t hide the flush that rises on her cheeks as she tugs uncomfortably at her collar. “Just a bruise. From work. A work related injury."

“Sure.” Maggie raises her eyebrows, and then her cue. “I’ll let that  _ blatant lie  _ stand for now, but if I win this game, you gotta spill.”

She smiles at the competitive glint flashing Alex’s eyes, unable to resist the challenge.

“You’re on.”

Ten minutes later, and they’ve each got two balls left to pot, plus the black.

“You know, Maggie, you’re a lot better at this than when we first met,” Alex comments absently as she lines up her shot, sinking the first ball easily before narrowly missing the pocket with the second. “ _ Damn.” _

“Hey, well, practice makes perfect.”

“You got yourself another pool buddy?” Alex asks. They haven’t played in a while.

“Nah, just you.” Maggie doesn’t mention the solo practice she got in every night in the few weeks after they kissed, hoping fruitlessly that Alex would show up at the bar one night, regardless of all the unanswered calls and ignored texts.

Maggie nudges in her first ball, then sinks the second with a shot that’s more luck than anything, the white rolling to a stop perfectly aligned with the black. An easy shot to win the game.

Alex groans, hand covering her neck, and Maggie’s stomach twists uncomfortably as she realises that she doesn’t really want to  _ know  _ the story behind the mark, the truth that she’ll win if she makes this shot.

So she fumbles it, hits the white ball off-centre. Alex gives her a strange look, a confused kind of frown, as Maggie throws down her cue in faux-despair.

She gives a resigned sigh when Alex wins, and hopes it doesn’t sound too much like relief. “Work related injury it is, then,” she says, and heads to the bar for drinks, trying to quash the sick twisting of jealousy in her stomach. 

_ This is what you wanted _ , she tells herself.  _ This is what you asked for. You’re in different places. She needs to figure things out. You just got out of  a relationship. Neither of you are ready. _

Maggie takes a deep breath before heading back to the pool table. She hands Alex a beer, careful that their hands don’t touch. “Rematch?” She challenges, with a friendly smile. 

Because that’s all they can be for now. Friends.

 

**x**

 

“What are you doing here, Danvers?”

Maggie’s a little drunk, her smile wide as she leans against the bar next to the stool where Alex is sitting. A little too wide, some distant part of her thinks, to be casual, to be friendly, like she’s supposed to be acting towards Alex. 

She can’t help it though, not with her inhibitions lowered, and her grin stretches further across her face. Every part of her feels lighter in Alex’s company.

“Maggie!” Alex greets her with a hug, and Maggie holds on just a little longer than she would sober. “Just expanding my horizons.” She gestures around the bar and shrugs, a little shyly. “I’ve never been to a gay bar before.”

“A rite of passage! You should come sit with me and my friends, we’ve got a table over by the dance floor-”

“Actually, I’m here with someone-”

Maggie’s stomach sinks, her smile fading.

“Hi!” She’d been to focused on Alex to even notice the woman sitting beside her. “I’m Susan. It’s good to finally put a face to the name. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Alex is blushing, prettily - everything Alex does is pretty, or hot. Or both, Maggie thinks. She shakes the hand the woman - Susan - offers, and tries to ignore the jealousy burning hot in her throat.

“Well, both of you are welcome to join us if you want to.” Maggie forces another smile, flags down the bartender and orders a drink. “We’re just over there.” She takes the glass and hurries back to the booth, a couple of friends from the force waiting for her there.

They go to dance, but Maggie stays at the table, waiting to see if Alex and her  _ friend  _ head over. They don’t. She nurses her drink, her tipsy elation becoming morose. She’s barely finished it when another is set in front of her and she jerks her head up, expecting Alex.

It’s not. 

“How you doin’, Sawyer?” The woman - Lauren - drawls. An old fling. They’ve hooked up a few times since they officially ended it; the drink’s an invitation, and it would be all too easy to go home with her, force all thoughts of Alex from her mind-

-except that’s not what Maggie wants. Not anymore.

“Not tonight.” She pushes the drink away, and Lauren shrugs.

“Another time, then.”

Maggie smiles noncommittally as the other woman walks away, finds her eyes drifting over to the bar where Alex had been sat.

She and Susan are both gone.

Maggie tries not to think about what that might mean. She grabs her jacket and leaves; she doesn’t feel like dancing anymore.

 

**x**

 

“What’s put that grin on your face, Danvers?”

Maggie slides into the seat across from Alex, draws the flat white that Alex has already ordered for her closer, her chest warm at the fact she knows her coffee order.

Alex bites her lip and inclines her head towards the pretty barista at the counter, pushing a napkin towards Maggie, a phone number neatly printed across it. “She asked me out.”

“What about Susan?” Maggie asks instantly, struggling to keep her face impassive. She wraps her hands around the heat of her coffee cup - she feels cold, suddenly.

“Vasquez?” Alex laughs, wide eyed. “We aren’t - we’re just colleagues… did you think-?”

“No,” Maggie blurts, too quickly. “Well. Yes.” She admits.

Alex gives her a curious look.

_ God, Maggie. Get yourself together. _

“So, you said yes? To the barista?” She inquires, hoping her change of subject wasn't as clumsy as it seemed to her.  


“Sophie - that’s her name. We’re gonna go for drinks next week.” Alex smiles, so Maggie does too. 

This is good, Maggie tells herself. Alex is experiencing things. Fresh off the boat but finding her way.

This is exactly what she wanted, right? 

 

**X**

 

“God, Alex, are you okay?”

She’s frantic and out of breath as she drops to her knees next to where Alex lies on the concrete rooftop. She’s unconscious - must’ve hit her head as she fell, and there’s blood in her hair. Maggie swallows hard and blinks back tears, pushing down the sickening fear that swells in her throat.

“You  _ idiot,  _ Danvers.” 

_ God _ , what kind of reckless  _ asshole  _ goes after an alien hitman on her own. 

_ Only Alex Danvers,  _ she thinks.

Then again, Alex Danvers may be the only human who could actually win against one in a fight. She’s still alive at least. More than can be said for the alien.

Maggie reaches for her phone to call an ambulance but stops, remembering Alex has friends in high places. “ _ Supergirl _ ,” she yells.  _ “Alex needs you.” _

It’s less than a minute before a blur of red and blue lands on the rooftop with force, cracking the concrete. Supergirl’s face is white and panicked, eyes wide and tearful as she kneels beside Alex, lifting her so she’s cradled in her arms.

“Kara?” Maggie realises aloud. How had she never seen it before? It explain why one anonymous tip that the alien had kryptonite weapons had led to this, to Alex risking her life to stop him without calling Supergirl for back up. Why she and Supergirl work so closely together. Why Kara eats so  _ goddamn  _ much.

Kara turns to her, alarm in her eyes, but says nothing - just launches herself back into the air with Alex, leaving Maggie alone on the roof with only an ugly alien corpse for company.

…..

The DEO headquarters are more of a maze than Maggie remembers, the corridors seeming to wind endlessly as she half-runs to towards the medical bay.

“Alex,” she sighs in relief, entering finally to see Alex sitting up, her arm in a sling and her head bandaged. “Are you okay?”

“I’ve been better,” she smiles wryly, lifting a shoulder before grimacing in pain. “What’s this I hear about you threatening to out Kara as Supergirl unless she brought you out here  _ immediately?” _

“I wouldn’t really have done it. I was just-” Desperate. Terrified.  _ In love with you.  _ “I just needed to know you were okay.” Her voice is thick, and the air between them is suddenly charged, a new and tangible weight to it as their eyes meet.

“I know you wouldn’t’ve.” Alex says, her voice soft. “I trust you.”

Maggie swallows, hard. 

“So,” she asks lightly - or at least she tries to. “What’s the diagnosis?” 

“Dislocated shoulder. Cracked ribs. Head injury.” Alex rolls her eyes. “I feel fine but I’ve got to be kept under watch for the next 48 hours in case of concussion.”

“I-” Maggie, closes her eyes for a moment. She’s about to be too honest, she knows. “I was so scared, when I found you. What were you  _ thinking?  _ You can’t just go off on your own like that, Danvers. Alex. I…”

“What?” Alex prompts, her gaze heavy and focused and too insightful.

_ I love you.  _ Maggie thinks.

“I was just thinking.” She coughs, backtracks. “If you need someone to stay with you to make sure you’re not concussed, I’d be happy to - unless Kara is-?”

“Actually,” Alex says slowly. Carefully. “I’m staying with Sophie.”

“Oh. Right, of course. She’s your girlfriend!” The pitch of her voice is a little too high to be natural, a little too strained to be cheerful, and she knows it. 

“Maggie…” Alex says, and Maggie can’t stand it - the apology in her tone.

“Well, I’m glad you’re okay, I’ve got some paperwork to finish up. Got to try to explain the big old alien body on the rooftop.” Her attempt at levity falls flat, and her excuse sounds like exactly that. An excuse.

“Maggie, don’t go…”

“I’ll see ya.” 

It dawns on Maggie that they’ve missed their chance. That she’s been waiting for them both to be ready, but now that  _ she  _ finally is, Alex has moved on. 

She doesn’t look back as she leaves, scared it might break her.

 

**x**

 

“We broke up.”

Maggie doesn’t know what she expects when she opens her door, but it definitely isn’t Alex - things have been weird since the medical bay, this time with her doing the avoiding. It definitely isn’t Alex blurting out a sentence that sets Maggie’s heart pounding with selfish joy.

She wants to say a million things.

_ Good.  _

_ Kiss me. _

_ I love you. _

“Why?” She asks.

“It wasn’t fair to her. Or me.” Alex pauses. “Not when I’m in love with someone else.” 

_ Oh. _

“Who?” Maggie asks, hope stretching her heartstrings thin, too scared to put herself out there still. 

Alex looks at her, eyes dark and intense and determined.

“I’m glad you rejected me, when I kissed you.”

Maggie’s heart drops to her stomach and she feels sick suddenly, throat burning with tears she won’t allow to fall. But Alex steps in closer, takes her hand.

“I’m glad because I wasn’t ready. You were right. I needed to try things out, learn to be at ease with myself. And you weren’t ready either - your relationship had just ended, you needed time to get over it…. We wouldn’t have worked. Not then.”

_ Not then. _

“Not then.” She repeats, feeling brave suddenly. She lifts her palm to Alex’s cheek.

“I’m ready, now. If you are.” Alex’s voice is somehow simultaneously tentative and sure and Maggie smiles more widely than she thinks she ever has in her life, her cheeks aching from the stretch.  


“Yes, yeah. Yes. I am.”

“Good.”

They both laugh slightly, little huffs of exhilaration that ripple the air between them.

Maggie steps forwards and brushes Alex’s hair behind her ear, looks down at her lips before meeting her eyes. “Can I-?”

She doesn’t get to finish her question, the soft weight of Alex’s lips stealing her words, the air from her lungs, every thought beyond the two of them - here, now, ready.

They’re ready.

 


End file.
